Agile teams — definition, benefits and tips.

Agile project management has expanded into disciplines beyond software development and is now used by over 70% of US companies. For businesses building Agile teams, the process can seem daunting, as Agile project managers must balance constant inputs while supporting their teams.

Without Agile teams, companies face challenges adapting to sudden market shifts, new competitors or unexpected industry changes.

Agile methodology definition.

Agile methodology is a project management practice that breaks down larger objectives into smaller phases with the goal of continuous iteration, progress and improvement. This aligns with the definition of the term “Agile,” which refers to a team’s ability to move without restraint, recalibrating in response to challenges and successes.

Agile methodology helps organisations respond quickly and effectively to challenges, from rising customer demands to product delays. Businesses using Agile achieve a 64% success rate, compared to 49% with other strategies.

This guide explores Agile principles and how to apply them to current operations:

• What is an Agile team?
• Advantages of having an Agile team.
• Characteristics of an Agile team.
• Agile team roles and responsibilities.
• How do product backlogues optimise Agile?
• The different Agile frameworks.
• Tips to form an Agile team.
• How to improve team collaboration.

What is an Agile team?

An Agile team is a group of individuals with different multipurpose skills who are dedicated to the success of an Agile project through all stages of development, testing and delivery. Agile teams typically consist of 5 to 10 individuals who have been carefully selected for their expertise in specific business areas.

These groups are carefully curated and have been assigned a direct purpose to fulfil for the company, typically tied to a specific business objective. They are also self-directed and self-organised, share accountability and provide cross-functional assistance to meet goals.

Advantages of an Agile team.

The flexibility and scalability, both in good and bad times, are just a few of the advantages of having an Agile team perform duties within an organisation. Many companies are adopting Agile team approaches — for software development and beyond — due to the many benefits they offer. Here are a few:

• Improved customer engagement and satisfaction: Agile has an iterative approach that enables companies to continuously deliver new products or services, helping to refine customer relationships and retention.
• Higher-quality products: Process improvement is a key focus of Agile, where contributors are encouraged to identify areas for growth. This helps processes evolve more quickly, removing stopgaps and improving quality control.
• Higher levels of adaptability: Being able to adjust helps teams overcome roadblocks or incorporate positive changes with little to no downtime. Teams also have the freedom to assess their priorities as they move forward, allowing for more consistent delivery.
• Better control of the project: With the ultimate project goal set, Agile teams can control their outcomes along the way through continual progress and frequent group reviews of deliverables.
• Reduced risk: The progressive approach also minimises the risk of missing goals. Instead, team members can recalibrate their expectations and methods to achieve the desired outcomes in novel ways.
• Increased collaboration and feedback: Communication is valued and actively encouraged in Agile teams. Members meet regularly to provide feedback, progress reports and ideas for how to improve moving forward.

Characteristics of an Agile team.

While Agile teams will certainly differ in their design and execution, there are several specific traits that all successful Agile teams share. Keep in mind that one of the goals of Agile methodology is to remove silos and encourage a sense of collaboration that is as positive as it is productive.

Improved team collaboration.

First and foremost, the most successful Agile teams have a sense of unity that permeates all actions and interactions. Team members are encouraged to share successes and failures equally, working together to propose or celebrate solutions as needed. Working together as a cohesive unit can enhance overall team performance and increase the ability to achieve assigned goals.

High productivity.

By working as a unified group, the Agile team should also demonstrate high productivity. Being clear on who is responsible for what and when a task is due can help each contributor understand their role within the team and complete their tasks in the most efficient manner.

Cross-functionality.

Cross-functional Agile teams are often compared to T-shaped teams, in which members have deep expertise in specific areas as well as the ability to work cross-functionally across other areas— and they are similar. But Agile team members who are cross-functional are more likely to possess skills outside of traditional disciplines. It’s this wide-ranging skillset that lets them contribute to various projects, which in turn increases an Agile team’s velocity. The math isn’t complicated — when you don’t have to wait on external resources, you get more done in less time.

Well-defined responsibilities.

While team members should be willing to help one another as needed, having clearly defined tasks and responsibilities for each individual can help streamline efforts and attention. Project managers or Scrum masters can ensure there is no overlap between tasks. This will help to keep contributors productive and efficient by making boundaries and assignments clear.

Self-organised around value.

Agile teams perform best when they understand the projected value they will bring to the organisation. Leaders should make goals and outcomes clear from the start, defining value and demonstrating how the iterative tasks of today roll up into the final product or service of tomorrow.

Emotional intelligence.

Agile projects can be stressful at times, as team members strive to meet clear deadlines with precise deliverables. Agile teams with a high level of emotional intelligence are able to manage these times of stress, whether professional or personal, by separating team members from the work at hand. This can lead to more progress rather than panic when times get tough.

Adaptable and willing to learn.

Agile team members are chameleons who move from one environment to the next with little disruption in output. They often display a well-developed understanding of the professional environment that suits them best, which helps them to find the most productive spot in whatever situation they’re in.

Advanced T-shaped skills.

Team members who are T-shaped are said to understand most aspects of a project at a basic level (the horizontal line at the top of the “T”) while having deep expertise in one area of specialisation (the vertical line in the centre). This ability can be a benefit to teams looking to help drive development or processes in certain areas.

Agile team roles and responsibilities.

Agile teams typically divide up the responsibilities clearly across roles and there are many formal roles available in Agile methodology. These are the two that are most pivotal to success:

Product owner.

The product owner in an Agile team is responsible for setting the tasks, deadlines and expectations as they align with broader corporate goals. Also seen as overseeing the “what” of the project, the product owner — or project owner in Agile marketing — is the assigned leader of the team. This position is typically filled by a leader already in the company, such as a director or manager. The main objective is to help break down assignments into manageable iterations that align with Agile development.

Scrum master.

The scrum master, a role specific to the Scrum methodology and sometimes included in the hybrid methodology Scrumban, filters requests that come to the Agile team, manages the backlogue and facilitates all Scrum meetings. This role is not necessarily a leadership role. In fact, it can be a rotating role held by anyone on the Agile team.

The scrum master helps make the task lists prepared by the product owner a reality by creating team processes and structures that allow everyone to work efficiently and effectively. This can be seen as overseeing the “how” of the project and is also a role critical for internal and external team communication.

While product owners and scrum masters take the focus when it comes to Agile teams, other roles are also important. For example, an internal stakeholder may be the one to request the project or outcome and be kept up to date on progress as they co-ordinate with other teams regarding a launch or update. Stakeholders provide critical feedback that can affect task direction.

Like developers in Agile development, individual contributors are also part of the Agile team and help make up the team’s primary source of productivity and output.

Maintaining a product backlogue is key for Agile project management. By building and maintaining a product backlogue, your team can:

• Keep your to-do list up to date. Team members always know what they need to do next. Team leaders know which jobs are most important and can give them to the most suitable team member.
• Encourage discussion about priorities. Because the backlogue is constantly being monitored and updated, team members can contribute to the discussion about which items are critical and deserve to be higher up the list. The team can vote on what’s more important and decide how much work will likely be necessary.
• Increase efficiency. When everyone is working from the same list of prioritised work, the team can spend less time debating and second-guessing and more time building a better product.
• Improve flexibility. Teams can adapt and react to new needs and circumstances because they can reassess the items in the backlogue. As the team’s priorities change, the list can change.

How to create a product backlogue.

The product owner is responsible for managing the backlogue. It’s their responsibility to create and maintain the list of backlogue items. the backlogue. It’s their responsibility to create and maintain the list of backlogue items.

Prerequisites to creating a product backlogue — the two Rs.

Before creating the backlogue, the team should understand the general requirements of the project and already have a roadmap for developing it — these are the two Rs of Agile backlogues. The requirements are the function, services and features of the product. The roadmap is the high-level plan of action for the product.

With these two Rs clearly established, here’s how to create a project backlogue:

1. Collect items. Start by collecting the tasks, to-dos and upcoming work you and your team have already identified. These could already be part of the team’s or individual members’ to-do lists. Gather tasks from all these different sources into one location.
2. Clarify items. Make sure you and the team thoroughly understand each item. Discover why it was requested, what the specific requirements are and how it will bring value. Remember to use the product roadmap to guide what is added to and what stays in the backlogue.
3. Prioritise items. Arrange the items in order of importance. There are several ways to do this. You could complete the most complex tasks first or you could prioritise based on urgency. Some teams prioritise based on the level of affect versus effort. Others prioritise based on business value — the work’s effect on revenue or savings. The method you choose will depend on the type of project you’re working on.
4. Manage the backlogue. To ensure priorities are up to date, it’s essential to actively manage the backlogue. This is referred to as “backlogue refinement.” You’ll continually add items to the backlogue as new ideas or requests come in. You’ll also need to remove and modify items as needed.

All these steps occur during backlogue creation and continue as an ongoing process throughout the project’s entire lifecycle.

Tips and best practices for managing a product backlogue.

With new requests and items arriving constantly, it’s easy for the backlogue to spiral out of control, so it’s essential for the product owner to stay on top of it. Here are some best practices for ongoing backlogue refinement.

• Split up a large list of backlogue items. When the backlogue becomes too large, it becomes difficult to find anything and progress becomes less visible. It’s important to keep the backlogue manageable. One way to do this is by categorising your items into long-term and short-term tasks.
• Delete items. It’s a good idea to eliminate items from the backlogue that you’ll never complete. If an item isn’t valuable enough to implement and it’s been on the backlogue for a while, it’s time to delete it. With new items being added all the time, the product owner needs to be proactive in keeping the backlogue focused.
• Share the backlogue. When backlogues are only internal documents, they become stagnant — which is the opposite of Agile. Everyone involved should have access to the backlogue; therefore, please share it with all relevant stakeholders.
• Visualise the backlogue. You can also visualise your team’s backlogue. Teams will have a digital visualisation of the backlogue, but it can also be helpful to have an analogue one. This could be as simple as posting notes on the wall. Displaying them close to where the team works keeps everyone engaged.
• Review and reprioritise. Agile is all about flexibility and responsiveness, so your backlogue should reflect shifting priorities. The items with the highest priority should always be at the top of the backlogue. However you do it, make sure to regularly review and reprioritise backlogue items.

The different Agile frameworks.

There are several different Agile frameworks, with no single tried-and-true method. Many leaders opt to integrate elements from various frameworks to develop an approach that best suits their team, industry or organisation, with a focus on enhancing performance and achieving their objectives. Here is an overview of some of the most popular approaches.

1. Scrum
   Popular among software development, Scrum framework is an Agile approach that allows team members to self-organise based on a provided assortment of tasks approached iteratively. By collaborating toward a common goal through a series of structured meetings and tools, Scrum participants can provide feedback and move forward incrementally through a development cycle, ultimately building up to a final product. Scrum is best for environments that require frequent change and adaptability.
2. Kanban
   Kanban is a lean workflow management approach best suited for teams looking to streamline their work in progress and those with a consistent flow of incoming requests. This approach works well because the process visually represents the work queue, moving items forward depending on the stages or resources they require. The workload — not the workers — is managed by the project owner, who populates the queue and allows team members to pick individual items for development or review.
3. Crystal
   Placing emphasis on communication and interaction rather than processes, a Crystal Agile framework empowers team members to be vocal about the roadblocks or efficiencies they see to self-direct their workflow. Following general guidelines for collaboration, teams are also permitted to share information with one another, rather than adhering to restrictive documentation and reporting requirements. Crystal can work well for teams that have members who get along well and can prevent scope creep from becoming an issue.
4. Extreme Programming Framework (XP)
   Refocusing on software development, extreme programming takes the Agile methodology and emphasises the importance of following engineering best practices. While collaboration is still encouraged, the team members adhere more strictly to a set of 12 processes that support iterative, endless sprints to continuously promote development progress. This includes aspects such as miniature releases, consistent integration and ownership of code.
5. Dynamic Systems Development Method (DSDM)
   For companies seeking more rapid releases, DSDM may be a suitable fit. This approach is designed to create strategies that emphasise quick releases with numerous iterations and the expectation that revisions and rework may be necessary along the way or after the fact. Agile team members are still required to follow processes and procedures but will work at a quicker rate than their purely Scrum counterparts.

Tips to form an Agile team.

An ideal Agile team size is typically small, comprising around three to seven people. This helps keep communication active and reduces complications that can arise from working in larger numbers. Many companies assign a project owner to each Agile team, although it may be more effective to have multiple Agile teams report to a single project owner. This is a person to whom they are likely already reporting. If you have more than seven people on your team, you can create multiple smaller Agile teams.

Here are some tips for building Agile team structures:

1. Understand, align and map your business capabilities. When crafting a team, defining business goals and outcomes can naturally lead to demonstrating how to achieve those objectives. This includes assembling the right contributors based on business needs rather than other priorities.
2. Establish team expectations and boundaries. Leaders should clarify what is and is not included in the plan. This can help to prevent scope creep from other stakeholders, as well as spin-off work that naturally results from team collaboration and innovation.
3. Instil the value of self-organisation within the team. Team performers need to feel empowered to speak up, contribute and take ownership of their tasks for an Agile team to remain productive. Leaders can look for contributors with these attributes and empower them to new levels in the right Agile structure.
4. Manage work, not people. The team nominates individuals who are best suited to determine how to achieve the set goals. Leaders should focus on keeping priorities, requirements and deadlines for work items clear, allowing the team to self-organise.
5. Create means of communication with the product owner. Product owners drive task alignment with business goals, but contributors need to be able to provide essential feedback that could change future plans.

How to improve team collaboration.

Strong and effective communication remains one of the most important components of effective collaboration. It can empower decision-making, enable teams to meet their responsibilities and expedite progress. As leaders create Agile teams, there are measures they can take to improve collaboration — and outcomes — for the team as a whole in the long run:

• Ensure that every team member is aligned with the vision and task at hand.
• Include a varied skillset that does not overlap too much with other team members’ specialties.
• Establish and use regular feedback loops that are built into the learning cycle.
• Avoid having members of an Agile team also be members of another team.
• Identify and manage different work types on a Kanban board.
• Introduce classes of service to increase predictability.
• Visualise cross-team dependencies to streamline collaboration.

Your Agile team can succeed with the right tools.

Project managers and leaders can create more successful project outcomes when they understand how an Agile approach addresses specific roles and functions. Once everyone is in their precise position, leaders can also utilise tools and software to aid in implementing their chosen Agile framework.

When you’re ready to get started, consider exploring Agile project management software that can help you to manage projects at scale. Adobe Workfront is designed to help project managers collaborate with teams and stakeholders while monitoring projects in real-time, no matter where they are.

Take a product tour of Adobe Workfront or watch the overview video to learn more.